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Amy Warney, the mother of missing 11-month-old Levon Wameling, attended a police search Wednesday for the first time since the initial Jay Street search.
(Meera Jagannathan | mjagannathan@syracuse.com)

Utica, N.Y. — Amy Warney of Utica is planning a gathering to honor the one-year birthday of her son, who has been missing since May 29.

The 22-year-old mother wants to mark Levon Wameling's Aug. 31 birthday to show she is not giving up hope that he might be found.

For that reason, she and two friends were present when authorities resumed their search for Levon today. Acting on new information, Utica police, state police and the FBI this morning began searching a wooded area along the Mohawk River in north Utica.

Warney plans to host the birthday gathering at 748 Jay St., her son's last home. She wants people to bring Happy Birthday balloons to let go on the count of three. She hopes the balloons will signal to Levon that people are still looking for him.

Authorities, assisted by K-9 dogs, will search the wooded area throughout the day for the 11-month old child, said Sgt. Steve Hauck of the Utica Police Department.

The search is being conducted based on new information that Hauck would not discuss. He hopes police find evidence that leads to Levon's discovery.

The wooded area is the fourth location police have scoured since their original two-week search of Jay Street, where the baby was last seen around 11:30 p.m. on May 29. They previously searched East Utica, the town of Marcy and a wooded area near Barnes Avenue in Utica.

Today was the first time Warney has attended a search since the initial one.

Warney said the boy's father, Jevon Wameling, is familiar with the wooded area police are searching. His parents also live close to the search location, she said.

Warney and Jevon Wameling broke up on Mother's Day, she said.

Police have not named the father as a suspect. Jevon Wameling, who waited until June 11 to report that his son was missing, has not spoken to police since that night. He has since asked for legal counsel, Hauck said.

On May 29, Jevon Wameling said he left his son unattended for a couple of minutes in front of his home on Jay Street when he realized he was locked out of his home, police said. He went around to the back of the home to get inside and when he returned to the front of the house, the child was missing.

Wameling reported his son missing two weeks later after family began asking about the child, police said. Warney was in a rehabilitation facility when the child went missing, police said.